Tag Archives: national

Morning Musings, Photographers, Tongue in Cheek

Morning Musings: Secret Lives of Landscape Photographers (9/12/14)

September 12, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

“Secret (Banjo) Lives of Landscape Photographers” — A group on landscape photographers takes a musical break at the Sierra Nevada backcountry camp.

Landscape photographers relaxing with a little midday banjo music. (L-R: Scot Miller, Charles Cramer, Annette Bottaro-Walklet, Mike Osborne, Karl Kroeber, G Dan Mitchell)

I know the romantic notions about the daily lives of landscape photographers: days full of stunning golden hour light, incalculable beauties everywhere at every moment, the sublime life, rainbows, unicorns, etc. But the truth is more complex. Up before dawn and out into the cold without breakfast, shooting for hours until the light turns “blah,” then a long, boring midday period before the beautiful light returns hours later, then photographing into the frigid darkness.

It is often a struggle to find something useful to do in the backcountry during those midday hours. There are meals to eat, tents to tidy, and naps to take, but the hours are still long. We think we’ve found a solution. There’s nothing like a few hours of backcountry banjo ensemble music to make the time pass more quickly. Here the group nears the conclusion of the Adagietto movement of Mahler’s Symphony #5.

So, the next time you are in the Sierra Nevada backcountry and you pass a group of heavily laden photographers with tripods, folding chairs, and banjo cases on their backs, stop and say “hi.” ;-)

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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Telescope Peak

August 30, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Telescope Peak, the highest point in Death Valley National Park, in the distance beyond the rugged terrain of upper Titanothere Canyon in the Amargosa Range

This one has been sitting in my queue for months now, and it is finally time to send it out with the other photographs! I made the photograph back in early April, while spending a few days in Death Valley exploring a lot of higher elevation area in the mountains on either side of the Valley itself. At one point during this visit, we ended up spending nearly an entire day high up in the Panamint range, at times doing something very unusual — photographing Death Valley wildflowers during a snowstorm!

The distant snow-covered peak in the photograph is Telescope Peak, at over 11,000′ of elevation the highest point in the Panamint range and in Death Valley National Park. While we often think of Death Valley’s reputation for heat, this peak is often covered with snow during the colder times of the year. The location from which I made this photograph is high in the mountains on the other, east side of the Valley, a very arid and rugged region that presents a different appearance than the much lower areas of the Valley itself. Here there is a landscape of dry and rugged mountains and valleys, often receding one behind the other into the distance. I stopped at this spot, where I have photographed before, and was captivated by the conduction of three peak shapes — the nearly peak at upper right, the distant summit of Telegraph Peak, and the peak-like form of the clouds above.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Flooded Field, Winter

August 24, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

The stubble of last year’s crop in a flooded San Joaquin Valley winter field

This photograph comes from a season that seems quite remote today, during the warm late-summer days of mid-August. I made the photograph back on New Year’s Day 2014, when a group of us met in the San Joaquin Valley to welcome the dawn (literally — we arrived before sunrise) of the new year by spending a day photographic migratory birds and the flat and moody Central Valley landscape. Looking at photographs like this one now always reminds me of how quick and how regular the annual cycle is, since we are now considerably closer to New Year’s Day 2015 than the first day of 2014.

This photograph could also be a reminder to the stresses to wildlife from a third drought year and the conversion of the overwhelming majority of the important Central Valley wetlands to farm land. On the positive side, this location is an example of how agriculture and wildlife protection can coexist, since it is farmed in the dry season and then flooded for the birds in the winter. And does it ever attract birds! Here the patterns left by farm machinery are visible in the waters of the shallow ponds where birds were floating on this day.

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Winter Dusk, Pacific Ocean

August 10, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Winter dusk light on the Pacific Ocean near the Marin Headlands

This is a photograph from all the way back in January, when we had driven north across the Golden Gate with no particular plan in mind, but perhaps thought about making some photographs. We had been in San Francisco for some other purpose, had some time, and figured we use it by crossing the bridge. By the time we ended up north of the bay, we discovered that the day was going to end very soon, and that we would run out of light. Yes, we were not really prepared! We quickly got back to the car and headed to a familiar iconic location, the Conzelman Road area of the Marin Headlands, from which panoramic views of the entrance to San Francisco Bay are available.

When we arrived I was initially not very excited about the photograph potential. I know this probably sounds odd to some who have longed to see that view back toward San Francisco, or who have perhaps only seen it once or twice. But I pass this way fairly often, and after a while the novelty of a typical day here wears off and I begin holding out for more special conditions. So where we stopped I did not initially take out my camera gear — instead I simply played tourist and enjoyed the spectacular scene. However, as I looked at it I began to notice a few things that seemed interesting. At first there were some light beams coming across the dark land at the lower left, though they are no longer really visible in the photograph. They I began to notice the turbulent patterns on the surface of the water passing through the Golden Gate as the tide turned. And then I could see that there was going to be some interesting color in the winter sky above the ocean. So, in the end, I did get the camera out to make a few photographs.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: national

Morning Musings: Secret Lives of Landscape Photographers (9/12/14)

Telescope Peak

Flooded Field, Winter

Winter Dusk, Pacific Ocean

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.